Vermont sending inmates to private Arizona prisons

MONTPELIER, Vt. -- A year after Vermont inmates at a Massachusetts jail
rioted over conditions there, Vermont has discontinued the contract under which
it sent inmates there.

Vermont's out-of-state inmates now go to private prisons in Arizona and Kentucky.

Vermont Corrections Commissioner Andy Pallito said the Franklin County Jail and
House of Detention in Greenfield reduced the number of Vermont inmates it would
take from about 100 to below 50. He said at that point, it didn't make sense to
continue the contract, which was allowed to expire June 30.

Vermont inmates rioted at the jail last July, amid complaints about conditions
at the facility.

Pallito said Vermont had put out a request for proposals for jails near Vermont
to house inmates from the state, but nothing satisfactory was found.